The New Eden
Wildlife in the city, and discovering our shared home
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Octopus Publishing Group
Publishing:12th Mar '26
£19.80 was £22.00
This title is due to be published on 12th March, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
PRAISE FOR JC Niala:
'Moving and beautiful' - Robert MacFarlane
'A nuanced invitation to see the city as a place of wild co-existence and possibility.' OLIVIA LAING
'Meticulously researched and elegantly written' VICTORIA BENNETT
JC Niala grew up in the city of Nairobi - the only city with a national park in its borders. There she first encountered what life is like when a city is deeply intertwined with nature - and what happens when that relationship is in jeopardy. Through her experience of living in cities across the world, from London to San Francisco, anthropologist JC Niala is perfectly placed to offer a deep exploration into life in our cities.
From the origins our parks, to modern acts of guerilla gardening, JC uses case studies from across the globe to challenge the perception of our place in the city, and our means of connection to the natural world. Each encounter attests to the growing realisation that nature is abundant in our cities - and it is time to discover a new way of living.
Combining memoir, social history, and cultural commentary, JC Niala celebrates city life and asks what we are missing by overlooking nature in the everyday - and, by doing so, offers a powerful vision of the future where we can all co-exist.
Original, profound and wise, this book is rich with knowledge and vitality -- Jay Griffiths, author of HOW ANIMALS HEAL US
JC Niala skilfully and tenderly weaves together history, memory, and ecology into a beautifully expansive act of care, reminding us that 'if nature keeps reaching for the light through the cracks in the pavement, then so can we' . . . An inspiring and important book. -- Victoria Bennett, author of ALL MY WILD MOTHERS, and curator of the Wild Women Writers’ Salons
The New Eden illustrates how we are all integral and entangled, and each of us with the capacity for something better, as we develop a more cohesive understanding of the natural world, and our role within it. -- Louise Kenward, editor of MOVING MOUNTAINS
Seamlessly combines the intricacies of the personal with an overarching world view of a natural world that is all around us - a love letter to nature but not the kind seen at a distance, but that which exists in kissing distance. -- Natasha Carthew, author of UNDERCURRENT
Profound, joyful, quietly radical and moving, The New Eden challenges the colonial inheritance of what it means to belong to and care for the earth we are all born onto, and turns us in a new and hopeful direction. -- Nicola Chester, author of ON GALLOWS DOWN
The New Eden is both wonderfully lyrical and precise, woven with poetic encounters and feminist narratives of resistance. It reminds us that 'nature will thrive in the most unexpected places,' and that the divide between what we perceive as wild and urban is porous, with nature achieving a harmonious balance that is also reflected in Niala's stunning writing itself. -- Alycia Pirmohamed, poet
ISBN: 9781856755856
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
256 pages